Six Weeks

28May

There’s so much to talk about that I don’t know where to begin. Thursday May 27 will be six weeks since my surgery. Everything is looking good. The small opening on my back has scabbed over and is getting smaller every day. The other areas are all looking good. There is still the red spot on my right breast that hasn’t changed and there is still very minor bruising on the left. None of that is a reason for concern. I just find it odd that those things are persisting.

As requested by Dr. Elliott, I showered tonight, washed all the incision sites and re-taped them. I’m still not exactly certain why he wanted those re taped. He IS the expert here though so we deferred to his knowledge. My guess is that he still wants to keep the scarring to a minimum and that’s what the tape does. It keeps the scars flat and prevents them from becoming keloid scars (http://www.medicinenet.com/keloid/article.htm).

Something I noticed after my shower is that the skin on my back is still somewhat tight. It isn’t nearly as bad as it was six weeks ago when I felt like I was bound in a corset. It still feels like there is tape or some kind of light binding even when there isn’t though. I’ve also noticed that in a good portion of my back I still have absolutely no feeling. The only reason I know that I am touching skin is because my fingertips feel skin. I don’t even feel pressure in some places.

My armpits are almost as bad, though there is a little bit of feeling there. My left arm is almost completely back to normal as far as mobility goes. It’s still a bit sore, but it’s much better. The range of motion in my right arm is still limited. I still cannot straighten it directly next to my head. I CAN hold it at about a 60 degree angle though. I think perhaps I need to start working on stretching it. I may start a VERY light exercise routine of stretching to start increasing my range of motion. Before I do that though I’m going to call Dr. Elliott’s office and ask what they think first. No point in messing myself up if he says no. I’m all about avoiding the messing myself up bit.

Speaking of…I had another flashback tonight after I got out of the shower. It’s been a few weeks since the last time. I’m glad those horrific moments are getting fewer and farther between. I’m not thoroughly convinced that I may not be suffering in some small way from post traumatic stress disorder. PTSD isn’t just something that combat troops may have to deal with. Anyone who has been in a long term life threatening situation, whether that’s combat related, health related or even related to a rape, can develop PTSD. Flashbacks are one of those symptoms. For me, hell for anyone it’s completely terrifying to “see” incisions tear open like they did before. That was the first episode in a few weeks though. So that’s getting much better, too.

I’m starting to go out more frequently too. Before we left for my one month checkup I tried to get a hair appointment with my regular stylist because my roots were hideoulsy long. Unfortunately she couldn’t fit me in. So, silly me, I found someone else on the Pravana website and she squeezed me in. I say silly me because I actually expected her to do a good job since she claims she teaches at Brevard Community College in Cocoa. I even told her that for the dye to take properly, my roots have to be at least a gold color.

She screwed up. She lightened them to a medium brown and then tried to dye over that. My roots HIDEOUS. It looked like someone had tried to just dye over them. She promised that she would fix it for free. So against my better judgement I went back today. Somehow she managed to screw it up again. She DID manage to lighten the roots but not to the right shade because now they have an ORANGE tint to them!! I am NEVER going back to her again. I don’t care HOW desperate I am.

Now I have to wait at least a week before I can make an appointment with LeAnn at Belleza in Rockledge. I’m just going to have to call her, explain what happened and see how soon she wants to see me.

The day wasn’t a total loss though. After the stylist was done, Ken and I went out to Norman’s Raw Bar and Grill in Cocoa Village for lunch. While we were there we recorded the first episode of our food podcast “The Chipped Plate Chronicles”. YAY!!

I’m looking forward to Friday. I REALLY want to go see the new Pixar movie “Up”. It looks like it’s going to be absolutely fantastic! The reviews on http://www.rottentomatoes.com are phenomenal. I’ve also seen all the previews so I’m excited about it.

We have also planned that for our weekly outing to Disney, I am going to try to walk from the car in the Minnie parking lot (Yes, we know a secret) to the gift shop where they rent the wheelchairs. I think I could make it into the park, but by the time I got down to Casey’s, I’d have to have a cast member bring me a chair.

In the next couple days I’m going to release a post called “The Adjustment” that is going to cover more of my mental, physical and emotional adjustments and how I handled them. And how I’m STILL handling some of them so stay tuned!